Shallow Graves

the jaw and cheeks, the vein at the temple pounding as he worked on his food and swallowed hard. “That necklace was my gift to my Amatina. Her gift to me was her eyes and her love, Mr. Detective. My gift to her was that necklace. One of a kind item, stones had to come from Madagascar , down by Africa there. With the gold and the craftsmanship went into it, that necklace cost more to make than this fucking house cost to build. But after my Amatina died, I gave it to Tina, for nursing my wife and me. To show her she was really part of the family, mixed fucking blood, she was still my blood. The necklace shows up on the street, we go back up the line, snatch the guy and spend some time with him.“
    “Maybe the guy who has it knows it’s too hot to peddle.“
    “Guy breaks into houses, especially one of my houses, he’s a junkie, a fucking crackhead got shit for brains. He don’t know enough not to hit a connected property, he don’t know enough to check out a piece of merchandise before he fences it.“
    “It’s been over a week. Kind of a long time for somebody to sit on it.“
    Danucci gave me a long look. “Sometimes you got to be patient, Mr. Detective.“ The old man glanced at Zuppone, who left us without a word to go into the kitchen.
    Danucci squared around, his fingers playing with the goblet in front of him. “You remember what I told you before, about what you got to have to make it in this business?“
    “Brains, heart, and ambition.“
    “You met my son Joey tonight. What do you think of him?“
    I didn’t like this. “What do you mean?“
    The spotlight look came into the old man’s eyes. “You know what I mean.“
    I took a sip of wine. “Heart and ambition to spare. Enough brains to do fine, moneywise.“
    “Moneywise. Let me tell you something, Mr. Detective. There’s only two ways to make money in this world. One, you steal it from somebody. Two, you inherit it from somebody who already stole it from somebody else.“
    Danucci’s brow went toward the kitchen door. “So, how about Primo?“
    I put down the goblet. “Brains and heart, but no ambition.“
    Danucci closed his eyes and smiled a little. “Primo, Primo. He’s got what it takes, but he don’t want it. I can’t understand that, Mr. Detective. He don’t want nothing past the leather coat and the Lincoln car and that elevator shit he puts on the radio.“
    The eyes suddenly opened again, the spots stronger than before. “And what about Mr. Vincent Dani, Esquire?“
    “Brains and ambition, but no heart.“
    The eyes reached laser level. “You know what bums me about the fucking lawyers with their fucking RICO laws, looking down their noses at guys like me? What I offer, Mr. Detective, is protection. Protection so’s a guy can turn a profit. You tell me, what do lawyers offer? I’ll tell you. They offer protection, same as me. I keep somebody from getting ripped off by a coupla guys with guns in their hands and nothing between the ears. The lawyers, they keep somebody from getting ripped off by guys with pens in their hands and plenty between the ears. We both take our cuts off the top, the lawyers and me, and we ain’t so different you’d notice it.“
    Except for the body count. I said, “Mr. Danucci—“
    “Mr. Vincent Dani, Esquire. He never told you that, did he?“
    “What he told me, Mr. Danucci, was that you two were like oil and water. I imagine he was telling me that while Primo was on the car phone, giving you his read of me as a situation.“
    Danucci weighed things. He took a slug of wine, then replaced the chalice with delicacy on the tablecloth. “You learned a lot of things in a little time, Mr. Detective. You want to go through the apartment house over on Falmouth?“
    “Eventually. I think I’d rather talk to everybody else first, then go through it with their stories in mind.“
    Danucci looked up at me with sad, tired eyes. “You got brains, Mr. Detective. My son Joey, he don’t got real brains, but he’s got real heart, maybe too much heart. He’s the kind, he might do something rash. Joey’s got too long a life ahead of him for that. You find the guy did this, you come to me first, eh?“
    Tommy the Temper Danucci gave his abrupt nod, like I would do what he wanted whether I promised him or not.

- 13 -

    When Primo Zuppone dropped me off at the condo, he remem- bered to give me both my gun and the Wim Mertens tape. I put the cassette into a pocket of my raincoat.
    Upstairs,